Once, when I was somewhere around 8, I got lazy and didn’t go home to check in at the appointed time. A couple of hours later, my mom found me down in the yard of the local school. Her voice was strained, like she was trying to speak through a straw. I think she reprimanded me. And then she told me I needed to play inside for the rest of the day. I don’t recall it as a punishment, but I do recall feeling guilty since I knew I’d been naughty and made her worry when I could have just walked up the street and told her I was okay and gone back to playing. That was, after all, why I was wearing my lovely red watch.

Yet, somehow along the way, even without grounding, I learned my lessons. Don’t drive after 1am if you don’t have to: you’re too tired, you’ll probably hit a deer, and you’re more likely to get hit by a drunk driver. Always get pierced somewhere reputable, with clean instruments. Always save your video games: you’ll have to quit before you’re done and go get dinner. Keep a journal. Midwives are great. Stand up for yourself. Chocolate is so worth it. Take risks, with caution.

And, my all time favorite: “Sometimes good enough, is enough.”

Well, my mom may never have grounded me, but I had to ground myself to learn a lesson this week. And I learned it. It was rough. Here was the deal:

I broke the rules once or twice. I posted on my mom’s group message board a couple of times: I was snowed in with a sick kid and really needed more apple juice. I would consider it essential. I worked on a blog, but it was for work, so I considered it essential since it wasn’t part of my mom blogging. I surfed a couple times but only for something specific that I needed to know, and then I closed the browser as soon as I found the answer.

It was rough.

But productive.

Really productive, actually. Even with a sick kid, and now sick myself, I still got all my chores done and crossed a few things of the life to do list as well. And I still got to bed on time, finished a book, and watched a movie.

I’m not sure what my new rules will be nor do I think I need to create any. Just a little more self-awareness and self-control will do.

My daughter is very sick. So, last night, instead of doing my very small chores and going to bed to get in a nap before she woke up again, I sat in front of my computer screen and fiddidled the night away.

When we awoke at 7am after a sleepless night, the sink was filled with crap, including every single frying pan. The quinoa from the night before, of which I made extra to freeze, was still sitting in its pot on the stove top, now unsalvageable. I swore and got pissed off as I tripped over the toys scattered across the floor, glaring at the crumbs all over the table, and then I realized it was my own damn fault.

So I’m grounded.

One week of no blogging, no blog-stalking, no message-boarding, no surfing. Essential emails only.